By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors held its standard January meeting on Thursday in Columbus.

Of note from the meeting:

     • The OHSAA plans to conduct in-person meetings in each of its districts later this month, and into February, to discuss division expansion in volleyball, boys soccer, girls soccer, boys basketball, girls basketball, softball and baseball. The meetings are scheduled for the following dates: Jan. 29 in Columbus, Jan. 30 in Cincinnati, Feb. 2 in Findlay, Feb. 5 in Streetboro, Feb. 7 in Cambridge and Feb. 9 in Logan.

     • The fall 2023 volleyball state tournament set an OHSAA record for attendance, with 16,813 over the three-day tourney. The tournament was hosted at Wright State University (Dayton).

     • The OHSAA’s board approved an update to the girls wrestling tournament regulations to include an additional round of the tournament, which will be called pre-regionals, due to the increased number of girls participating in wrestling. The girls tournament will remain at one division for this year.

     • The 2024 track and field state championships will shift to a three-day event due to Welcome Stadium having eight lanes instead of nine that were used at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at the Ohio State University. Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium is not available for the 2024 state finals because of a renovation project, but will return as the host site for the state championships upon the completion of the renovation.

     • For track and field, the board approved a transition to electronic starting, instead of a starting pistol being fired. This transition will be implemented over a two-year process and will become mandatory for all regional and state tournaments beginning in 2025. The OHSAA intends to set aside grant money for its member schools and timing companies for the required upgrade.